


Seduce Me: The Fall

by Mysterie



Series: Seduce Me [1]
Category: Seduce Me the Otome (video game)
Genre: Demons, Multi, Romance, follows_game_play_sort_of, inucbi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-08-31
Packaged: 2018-08-11 08:20:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 18,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7883695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysterie/pseuds/Mysterie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mika is working through college due to her father's insistence that she do so, having been pushed all her life by her father to be the next CEO of her grandfather's toy company, she struggles with the fact that she may be pushed into something she really doesn't want. The unexpected happens though when suddenly her grandfather dies and leaves her with the estate in his will. Pushed to live there, with the implications that living there means she has no choice now but to become the next head of the company, she is thrust into living alone... or so she had expected. She arrives at the mansion to be met with the disconcerting sight of five young men on the floor bleeding from wounds from a fight. Learning that they aren't human, but demons... and incubi on top of it, she makes the decision to let them stay until they can defeat the "misfits" responsible for their injuries. Mika thought her destiny was going to be set in stone, but now, with the boys around, she's not so sure and she can't help it if her heart flutters around the boys and one of them begins to become something besides just a house guest... What has she gotten into?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Life is full of never ending surprises, well, at least that is what I believe. You never know what you’re going to find or who is going to come into your life. Most people would rather have a normal life, a life full of things that they expect or things that don’t surprise them. Me, I actually wanted change in my life. Nothing big really, just... maybe for my life to  **be** more like I want it to. For as long as I can remember, the brightest part of my life has been my trips to see my grandfather. He’s always been there to encourage me, unlike my father who seems so invested in his work and the only time he seems to speak to me is about how I’m doing in school and how I need to do good so I can take over the toy company my grandfather owns. I understand that he wants to keep it in the family, but why does it have to be me? Why do I have to be the next CEO? I’m just not ready for the responsibility of such a thing, plus, I’m not even sure that’s what I want to do with my life. I’ve been going to college the past few months to get the essential college courses out of the way... math, science, history, english... all the same required classes I’ve always had to take in school. I still have several months before I have to decide where to go to next, but the pressure to take business courses has increased since I graduated from high school. My friends support me and sometimes tease me about not having a boyfriend yet, but when would I ever really have the time unless something changes? I wish something would change... something that would help get me out of this mess or even just show me the answers to the question about what I should do next. I wish I knew why grandfather and my father didn’t get along... why they never spoke of it even though I’m practically an adult and can handle it. I want change. I wish for it. They say be careful what you wish for. My name is Mika Crosstar, and... I think I might have wished too hard... 


	2. 1: Another Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is based off the game Seduce Me: The Otome by Michaela Laws. It doesn't follow the story word-for-word but runs along the main plot line; I've changed the timeline and the last names of the characters, so if you've played the game you may (or may not) notice that. There are multiple endings to the game, based on which character the player chooses to romance (or to not romance any of them at all). I fell in love with the game and decided to flesh out the story more in how it would go in my own play through of the game; as choices in the first game are more restrictive than in the sequel. If you don't like this sort of thing, than please do not read/comment. 
> 
> Also, the chapters are short on purpose to set the pace of the story as much as the pace of my own writing. Enjoy!

Why did the lesson have to drone on? She knew most of this already, but she had to take it. It was required after all; because apparently all that studying she had been forced to do all her life apparently didn’t count towards knowing those same basics in college. What a crock. What was the point of having to continuously take math, science, english and history if college was just going to tell it all to you? She brushed it off, like she brushed back a strand of her brown hair from chocolate eyes. Mika never considered herself to be anything special, she’d not had many friends really and the world hadn’t ever seemed to offer much to her. It was like the world didn’t care for her even being there nor did it really ever seem to notice; it was more like watching some sort of movie rather than actually living. While she was grateful for her two best friends, Naomi Ray and Suzu Key, neither of them had followed her to the same college. They still kept in touch though. The vibration against her thigh let Mika know that one of her friends had sent her a text. So she slipped it from her pocket discreetly and shifted her gaze without moving her head. It was Suzu.

 

Hey, want to head over to the arcade after classes? I know you and I have the same schedule today. Naomi sent me a txt earlier; she wants to meet up at the cafe.

 

Mika sighed inwardly at the text, knowing that while she wished she could, she really probably shouldn’t:

 

Sorry, but i have a huge project that I have to finish before the end of this week.

 

She could practically see Suzu rolling her eyes when the next text followed:

 

Oh come on! It’s been weeks since we’ve been out together! At least meet up at the cafe!

 

Mika couldn’t help that she was beginning to think that maybe she should. Suzu was right, it had been weeks, but then again the project itself was pretty important and if she didn’t at least do a little bit of it each day she’d not get it done before the week was out. Well, okay, she could probably do it all in one day, but that didn’t mean she wanted to. Suzu was never really the studious type, but Naomi was more like her and studied like she did. The two of them were different like night and day sometimes, it was hard to say if they were friends in spite of their differences or because of them. They even liked different things to eat. Suzu loved spicy things, but Naomi wouldn’t be caught dead eating something like that. She hadn’t exactly been a “girly girl” but she had been more inclined in high school to talk about makeup, fashion and boys than Suzu. 

 

I would, but I’ll never hear the end of it if I did. I promise we’ll catch up soon.

 

She had just sent the text when a voice from the doorway caused the teacher to pause.

 

“Ah, sorry to interrupt, but is there a Mika Crosstar here?”

“That’s me.”

“Could you get your things and come with me to the main building? There’s someone waiting for you.” Someone was waiting for me? Someone who didn’t know where exactly to find me? Well, whoever it was probably had something really important to say if they were going to just interrupt class over it. It was raining outside, fortunately she had thought to bring an umbrella with her so the two of them didn’t have to run through it on their way to the main building on campus. Upon arriving at the office, the young woman who had come to deliver the message disappeared, likely to run some other.

“Mika?” She turned to see an older gentleman, someone who looked to be close to her father’s age who wore a suit and tie. She recognized him as someone from the company.


	3. 2: Rain

It was fitting really, that the rain had been coming down that day; the man I had met with had come to deliver news that I knew would come someday and yet had always dreaded, somewhere in the back of my mind, to hear. My grandfather had passed away. The man had been sent not just to deliver the news but to pick me up too as I didn’t have a car just yet, though my parents had said that they’d get me one for my next birthday. I’ll just be happy to have one, though I know as soon as I have the job in the company money won’t be an issue; I’m still not sure that’s what I want to do with my life though. That afternoon the rain had gotten heavier and was accompanied by the occasional roll of thunder, as if the skies themselves were weeping for my loss. Not that I could see that the sky had even darkened as I stood beneath a black umbrella, listening to the final rites be given. I had to wonder why father insisted on burying grandfather today... the very day that he passed. I know better than to ask, but it is still odd to me. Did he really want to get this all over with so quickly? As if it had never happened? The questions I have for him, I know, I’ll likely never have an answer to just like I will not know what it was that drove the two of them apart. I don’t know what he felt during that time, or what any of the other people who came felt because I could only stare at the wet grass beneath my feet the entire time. The only thing I had to be grateful for was that my father had at least allowed me time to scrounge up proper black to wear to the funeral. Not that I thought anyone else would notice that I wore a black t-shirt over the darkest color of blue jeans I owned. Only close family and friends were allowed to attend the funeral and after it was done, only my father, myself and my mother were present for the reading of my grandfather’s will under the strict request of the lawyer. There was a reason why, as I soon learned as we sat in the small office.

 

“... And to my dearest granddaughter, I give my estate. All the furniture and decor that resides within the house shall also be given to my granddaughter.” 

“... What?” Her head shot up, she’d been staring at her hands and had been silent through the entire reading. She couldn’t believe what she had heard; she was to be given the family estate? At 18? How had she managed to earn that? It seemed impossible, but that was what was written in the will and while it didn’t make any sense to her there was no point in refuting it. 

“He passed the family estate to her? ... Why am I not surprised?” Of course her father wouldn’t be surprised; he expected her to be CEO, so of course that sort of thing would make sense to him. Even so, he didn’t sound pleased about it; had this been any other day, she might have wondered about that, for now all she could really think about was her grandfather.  _ Why me? Grandfather.... Why did you choose me?  _

“Dear...” Her mother attempted to break him of his current mood; he ignored her.

“Well, did he say anything about what will become of the CEO and Chairman position of the Anderson Toy Company?” 

“No. It is presumed that the Vice Chairman will succeed the position.” 

“Heh... even to the bitter end he wouldn’t give in. What a stubborn old man.” What did my father mean? Did it have something to do with what had kept them apart all those years? Well, it didn’t matter too much now. Shaking his head, he turned to look at his wife with a serious expression. 

“About the estate... Should we send her there to get used to the building? It will be a good place for her to live now that she’s in college.” 

“Are you sure we should?” She could see her mother wasn’t as keen on the idea as her father as he answered.

“Why not? This would be a good experience for her.” She turned from him to Mika.

“Honey, what do you think?” Mika didn’t reply, she wasn’t sure what to think really; about any of this. It had all happened so fast. It was like before, life seemed to be rushing all around while she merely stood back as an observer to it rather than an actual part of it.  _ Of all the things to happen... why this? Why now? _

“Well, that seems to be it. We’ll be taking our leave now. I’m sure the little heiress needs some time to adjust.” She nearly sighed at the way her father spoke; or rather, maybe she might have if she had registered it. Like most everything else though, it had gone over her head as her thoughts were full of her grandfather and the place she’d practically grown up in that was now to be hers. 

“David!” Despite that her mother had raised her voice at him, he didn’t seem at all interested in discussing anything further as he headed for the car; the two of them forced to follow as there was no other means to return home by. 

“Don’t mind him honey, I think that your grandfather's passing really affected him.” She could only nod. Remembering the grave, how void it had been of any color of toys that her grandfather had loved so much or even of flowers... it made her father’s disdain for him so blatantly obvious and almost pitiful. As if he couldn’t even summon up enough care to show respect for him. She knew that she had to be strong, but at that moment she felt the furthest from it as the car ride back to the house was sullen and silent. Memories played in her head; memories of various times that only served to remind her just how different her grandfather had been from her father. He had often asked her opinion on toys, showing her them before they had even been released; he always seemed to value what she had to say and put into action any suggestion that she gave him. He’d always told her that she should do what made her happy. She really wondered how she was supposed to do that now. She loved her father, just as she was sure he loved her, but she was not at all sure she could do what he wished her to and take her grandfather’s place. She had promised to be strong in the past, but she really wondered, at times like these, if she really could be strong and calm when it seemed like the world was just falling apart around her. She went straight to her room before either of her parents could say a word; she didn’t feel like talking to them, didn’t feel like talking to anyone really. She knew what her father would want. For her to start working at the company as soon as possible; she’d seen the look in his eyes and she didn’t want to talk about this or anything like it. She needed something to do to get her mind off things... so she worked on the project for hours until her mother called her for dinner. It was tense, but silent. She knew he wanted to say something and it wasn’t long until he brought it up, but she didn’t reply; just ate. It was the same routine, but at the same time, things were different. Once she was upstairs she knew that maybe the move would be for the best; it would be an opportunity to get from under him, to get away from his constant pressure. She began packing. After all, her father had mentioned that she should move into the home the following day. Maybe he was eager to be rid of her or to push her further to being ready for the job, regardless of the reason, she was sure that come tomorrow’s first light that would be where she would be instead of here. As she tucked away the last of her socks and turned to empty her drawer of nightgowns next she heard her phone go off. She picked it up with a small smile when she saw who it was. Who else would possibly be calling of course, but her best friend? 

“Hey Crosstar, are you there?” It was Suzu.

“Is everything alright? We decided to call after hearing the news.” At first she didn’t answer, it was Naomi too... they were both sharing a phone. It made her smile at the image she got of the two trying to share a phone at the same time.

“Hello?” The sound of Naomi’s voice snapped her from her thoughts.

“I’m really glad you guys called.” Her voice came out softly.

“What happened? Are you okay?” 

“Well...” While she really didn’t want to repeat the day, these were her friends and they had been support for her in the past so she told them about the funeral that afternoon and everything that had followed. Naomi’s voice broke the silence and Mika couldn’t help the relief she felt as her friend spoke.

“I can’t begin to imagine how you must be feeling right now... I’m sorry. Do you want us to come over right now?” She toyed with the thought, but remembering her father’s mood she shook her head.

“No, it’s okay. My dad isn’t in a good mood so... could we just keep talking on the phone like this instead?” 

“Of course! We’d stay on the phone until the crack of dawn, right, Suzu?” 

“Yeah! We’re always here if you need us. After all, we wouldn’t be the awesome Triple Threat Trio without you, right?” Mika chuckled slightly.

“... ha ha... yeah.”

“Triple Threat Trio? That sounds like the name of a gang.” Naomi protested.

“Yeah! I mean, we’re all taking on the world together! We’ve got to sound somewhat scary, or else no one’s going to take us seriously!” 

“What’s with you and naming things?” Mika just smiled, listening to the two go back and forth as they usually did... it seemed to be the only normal thing of the day. The conversation soon moved on to other things and Mika forgot about the day’s events as they chatted, eventually even talking about one of Naomi’s favorite shows, Detective Onan. It was a cartoon about a detective wanna-be who was super smart and could solve cases, but because he’d been turned into a young boy he was forced to take a psuedo name and live under the care of the bumbling detective who was also his girlfriend’s father. So he solved cases and her father got all the credit for it... usually. The cases were really close to impossible for normal detectives, but he solved them every time without fail. It was a comfort that they could distract her like that, even as they were concerned about what had happened and the fact that she’d be living on her own so soon afterwards. They’d talked late into the night until they’d started yawning and had bid each other goodnight.


	4. 3: New Home

The car ride to the mansion the next day was done in tense silence; despite that he’d never been one to shy away from speaking his mind before, it seemed that he couldn’t bring himself to say the words to affirm how he really felt when it came to me. It was like the words were taboo or something. I knew he cared, but know it and hearing it were two different things. I honestly wasn’t sure if I was happy that I got this chance to leave or if I was anxious to be on my own... maybe both. Considering that my father and my grandfather didn’t seem to get along, maybe it was for the best that grandfather was no longer around because it was likely that if grandfather was alive they’d only give each other the silent treatment; that was something I didn’t want to have to be a part of. The car ride was mostly in silence until he broke it, his tone was not the most pleasant, but there wasn’t much I could do to change that.

 

“How is school? Maintaining your grades I hope.” 

“Um... yeah, I’ve been trying my best so far.” 

“Trying? That’s not really doing the best you can, is it?” She didn’t like the way he twisted her words, but there wasn’t anything she could say that would change how he took what she said. She knew that with him, he only heard some words that she actually said and not really getting the intended meaning. She really was doing her best in school, but wording things just so was always a chore with him. It always seemed impossible to have a conversation with him without eventually ending up talking about her academics or future; no matter how loosely the original topic was based on either. He always found a way to integrate it into the conversation whenever they talked. 

“Anyway, your belongings are in the trunk. There isn’t a lot, so I’m sure you can manage bringing them inside the house. After all, you’re on the road to being independent now.” She didn’t know what that had to do with anything, but it didn’t matter really as she moved to step out of the car to collect her things; not really having taken a proper look at the home when the car had actually stopped. 

“Yes, I can manage on my own.” The usual silence fell between them as she gathered what luggage she had. A simple suitcase and a small hand bag that held more personal items. She considered asking him about what had happened between them, but knew it was likely just going to be like talking to a brick wall. She wondered what it would be like, it wasn’t like she hadn’t been there before, but it was one thing to visit a place and yet another to actually live there. How could she be expected to manage living there on her own when she’d had no training on how to take care of such a place? The bills weren’t going to be an issue, thanks to her parents inheriting the corporation, but never having lived on her own before the concept of it was completely new. She was a little daunted by the prospect of it, but the decision had already been made and there was no going back. Most people her age might have been ecstatic about moving out into a place of their own, but Mika wasn’t most people. She didn’t want to let her parents down, or her grandfather. What would he be saying about this if he were still alive? Clutching her bags, she looked up at the sky.  _ If you are there grandfather... how would you be doing if you were me?  _  Shaking away the thoughts she turned and closed the trunk. Stepping away from the car; almost as soon as she had.

“Go on in.” The sound of her father’s voice broke into whatever other thoughts that he might have had. She nodded. 

“Tell mom I love her.” 

“Alright.”

“... I love you dad.” There was no reply to that. No ‘make sure you come by and visit us often?’ No ‘’I’m going to miss you lots?’ There was nothing other than a blank stare. She waited for there to be some form of goodbye, but he didn’t speak again, instead he rolled up the window and the car pulled away; leaving her alone at the gates. With a sigh she turned away and took in the place that was to be her new home, it was huge, to say the least. 

“There it is...” She said to herself as she stood on the cobble road that lead to the front door of the mansion. The house was framed by a set of tall gates and she hesitantly pushed them aside to take in the entire estate before her; she was still uncertain about all of this. The house still looked as it had when she had last visited, At a glance it seemed intimidating with its size though there was more to it than that. Brick walls were framed by shrubbery and flowers, giving it a homey and welcoming appearance, but in contrast its tall doors that led into the home gave off a sense of grandeur. Who knew what lay inside? Still she was not going to back down and took out the key that she’d been given. Unlocking the doors to what was to be her new home she opened the door and stepped into an expansive lobby with a stairwell that circled around the back of the room, leading up to the second floor. That wasn’t what she was looking at as she dropped her bags in the doorway. That was when she saw them... 


	5. 4: Boys

Lying on the floor was a group of five men, all of whom seemed to be currently unconscious; she hoped that there was an explanation as to why they were there in the first place. MIka didn’t even seem to notice the door behind her had closed on its own as she stared at the unexpected visitors to her home. She knew they couldn’t be servants just by looking at them, they seemed to also be wounded, judging by all the blood on the floor.

 

“Huh? Who the heck are these guys? Why are they here?! What is going on?!” She didn’t really register that she’d just blurted out her thoughts. The shock of seeing five wounded strangers with open wounds and bleeding out in her home had hit her hard. She instinctively felt bad for them, given their condition, but she was also angry at the sudden intrusion her mind went from caring and concerned to confused in a matter of moments. 

“Who are you guys?” It slipped out before she could actually collect her thoughts enough to be rational. There was, of course, no response.

“I’ll call the police!” She fumbled next, as if a threat like that would rouse one of them and magically give her the answers she wanted. It all seemed surreal that this was happening, that there were five strangers in a house she’d just moved into! A part of her wanted answers, quickly too. She was tense, wondering what to do when silence greeted her; that is until one of them did move. Green eyes stared at her demandingly from beneath light brown hair; his vest perfectly matched his eyes as he stood up. He was one of the wounded ones but that wasn’t what startled her.

“Eep! Get away from me!” It wasn’t that he was wounded that was the cause of her reaction, but the way he was looking at her.

“Woman. You are going to let me kiss you.” She couldn’t believe it, but within a blink of an eye he’d gone from where he was laying on the floor to being right in front of her face. What was more odd was that she felt... serene... and calm about the entire thing. As if it was something perfectly natural. Slowly, a desire began to burn from her chest, telling her to accept his kiss even when her mind was vehemently refusing to. 

“Uh... huh... g-go ahead.” She found herself uttering. 

“Good.” As he kissed her, Mika felt her body go weak... She didn’t know why, but the kiss was draining her of her energy, and yet it was so good and made her heart sing at the same time. She could only describe it as a strange, tingling feeling that danced along every nerve of her body. There was the feel of an intangible energy running from her body to her lips. It felt odd, but still amazing as well.

“Sam, stop it.” Came a second voice.

“Mmm... !” The one kissing her, Sam, glanced in the direction behind him.

“I said stop, now.”

“Mmmm... fine.” He drew back, leaving her standing there in a daze for a moment before she was able to gather herself enough to look at the other who had spoken up. He was taller, dressed more proper like in a gray jacket that was shades lighter than his hair which was a dark silver. It was hard to get a good look at the light brown eyes that were set behind a pair of black framed glasses though he seemed proper like in attire, the pants he wore looked like gray slacks of some sort.

“W-wha... huh?” She wasn’t sure what was going on as her mind was still completely enwrapped by the kiss in her thoughts that soon melted into the depths of her forgotten memories. 

“Please forgive my brother... He’s a bit, reckless.” 

“At least I feel a hell of a lot better than you right now.” 

“Because you used your abilities on her.” 

“Nn... Sam, you’re such a reckless brute, taking advantage of a beautiful young woman like her.” Another voice caused her to turn; this one belonged to a man with rust tinted hair and violet eyes; the shirt he wore beneath a light pink vest seemed to be a maroon silk, though it was difficult to be sure just by looks alone, contrasting nicely though with the brown pants he wore. The one called Sam, who had kissed her, wore not just a green and white vest jacket, but an army green shirt beneath that and what looked like cargo pants. 

“Shut that pretty boy mouth of yours before I rip it off your pretty boy face.” Such hostility... were they all brothers? They probably at least all knew each other... 

“Sheesh guys, can we not fight right now...? Not all of us are in the best state...” A lighter voice said and Mika glanced over to see that what appeared to be the youngest of them had gotten up. He had silvery hair, much like the more properly dressed man, but his eyes were the brightest of blues she had ever seen and he wore a yellow hoodie on top of a blue shirt with a large white skull and crossbones on it and blue cargo pants. 

“I guess you are right, Matthew.” The redhead said; his voice was pleasant to listen to; it was low and almost seductive and yet... not.

“I agree.” The other silver haired man replied. So the younger of them was Matthew... the one in green was Sam... who were the rest? They were joined by the last of them, he had light auburn hair and deep blue eyes that would shame any ocean; his attire seemed to be a cross between being nice casual and being business as he wore a red vest beneath a brown suit jacket with white jeans. He was the only one who didn’t say a word, not seeming to want to voice an opinion and at the same time she wasn’t sure she could blame him as he wasn’t in the best of condition at the moment. As they spoke among themselves Mika’s mind cleared up and she remembered her anger and confusion, this time it was tenfold however. 

“Wha... wha...”

“Huh? Did you say something, beautiful?” The redhead asked, looking over at her. That was the last straw.

“W-WHAT IS GOING ON?!!?!?! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU ALL IN HERE IN MY HOUSE?!?! WHY ARE YOU ALL WOUNDED?! WHY DID YOU KISS ME?! WHO ARE YOU GUYS?!?!” The sudden outburst startled the five, she couldn’t really help it after having been taken advantage of and being left in a mushy state; her words escaped without any sort of filter. She could see she’d scared them, even the one who had kissed her... Her eyes landed suddenly on the man who had kissed her.  _ Wait a second... the guy who kissed me... _ She marched straight up to him and drew back, before they realized what was going on, slamming her fist into his face and causing him to take a step back.

“Ouch!!! What’s your problem?!” 

“What’s  **your** problem?!” She shot back.

“You can’t just go around forcing people to kiss you like that! Are you some kind of pervert?!” 

“Pervert?! It was only a kiss!” 

“It might mean nothing to you but it meant a lot to me!” 

“What, was that your first kiss?” She didn’t know why, but that didn’t help matters, in fact it only made her that much more angry that he’d blow it off like that.She slammed her fist into his shoulder this time.

“Ow!! Hey, what was  **that** for?”

“I know first kisses aren’t exactly amazing and full of sparkle and something out of a fairy tale... but I had expected it to be more than something just forced!” 

“So that was your first kiss, stop making such a big deal out of it.” What the hell was his problem?! How could he not understand how such a thing was supposed to be special?! 

“It’s not like I can somehow take it back.” 

“Fine, than at least apologize.” He seemed almost annoyed with the request, muttering beneath his breath as he closed his eyes.

“Why do I always look like the bad guy...? Apologies really aren’t my forte, but I’ll try my best...”  

“Hmm?” 

“Okay... fine. I’m sorry.” Well that wasn’t much of one was it?

“Sorry about what?”

“I’m sorry for kissing you like that, I went too far.” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, but she could tell that he seemed sincere.

“I didn’t mean for it to turn out that way.” He went on before she could think to speak.

“It’s just... I act on impulse, okay? It’s difficult to control myself and.... Ugh, what am I saying?” That was a good question.

“It’s okay, I get what you’re trying to say. Thank you for the apology.”

“... Yeah, no problem...” 

“Anyway, if you try and pull any funny business in the future, just a fair warning: I know taekwondo.” She stepped back from him to look at the group. It seemed none of the others had any qualms about her earlier issue with Sam.

“So... what exactly are all of you doing in my house?” It was the one with glasses who spoke up, like he was their leader or something.

“Miss, please forgive us and our intrusion. We didn’t know this abode belonged to anyone, nor did we have the time to take that into consideration...” 

“What do you mean? You don’t just barge into people’s homes!”

“We wouldn’t have had to if we weren’t as wounded as we currently are... We just escaped from a deadly fight that could have ended our lives. Luckily for us your home was near and the windows unlocked, so we quickly came inside.” Mika knew there were laws preventing people from just wander onto private property, but considering their wounds she believed that what he was telling her was true and she didn’t think badly of them for taking advantage of the fact that they could get in.

“I guess that explains that wounds but not why  **he** kissed me! He had absolutely no right to do that!” 

“Well, lovely flustered lady, it’s hard to explain, truly... We’re not exactly... normal.” The redhead spoke up. Was this one a compulsive flirt or something? 

“Not normal? ... What are you guys demons or something?” It sounded ridiculous, just saying it aloud, but it was the first thing that came to her mind. She had asked almost jokingly, after all no one would ever take such a question seriously, but the boys did seem to take it that way. The youngest looking of them, Matthew, smiled and laughed.

“Well, yeah, actually, something like that.” She had been prepared for a lot of answers, but not that.


	6. 5: Demons?!

“Ehh?!” At her confusion, the other silver haired man spoke up again.

“We’re incubi, miss; demons who use and consume sexual energy of humans to survive.” She looked at each of them, none of them seemed to have any expression that said he was anything but serious. Incubi? As in the supposed demons who turned humans into sex-crazed monsters? A very weird feeling began to grow inside her. This had to be some sort of joke, right? This couldn’t be real. Of all the answers to give... surely the real answer had to be less... farfetched.

“Hello? Did you hear him?” Sam asked.

“We’re telling the truth.” The redhead spoke. The fifth member of their little group still had yet to say a word, which was a little odd. 

“Do you think she’s still processing it?” Matthew asked. 

“Yes.” The silver haired one spoke up, he was also, oddly enough, the tallest of them.

“And she’ll understand right about -” 

“Ri-ight, it was funny while it lasted, but let’s cut the joke short. Incubi don’t exist.” The taller one cleared his throat a bit.

“Yes, we do exist.” 

“Prove it.” She knew that was pretty bold of her to say, but how else could they expect her to believe such a far out story? That was like saying little green men from Mars existed! Still, as soon as they had left her, she regretted having said them, but there was no turning back now that they had been said.

“Very well. Erik, go ahead.” Erik? The red haired one stepped forward. So this was Erik? A question flashed in her mind as she met his eyes, if he really was just another guy then... how was it that he had violet colored eyes? That wasn’t natural by any means... you only saw eyes that color in cartoons and... the question vanished just as quickly as it had come.

“Hehe, very well...” As he stepped up to her the rest of the room seemed to fade away.

“My sweet, you’re so tempting with such non-belief...” He ran his fingers gently through her hair even as he went on, his eyes not leaving hers for a moment.

“Let me ease your mind with a tender kiss. I promise you’ll enjoy every moment of it and maybe you’ll even want more.” Once more she found herself lost in a sea of calm serenity, just as she had before when Sam had demanded a kiss from her earlier; waves of heat seemed to course through her chest and into her face, painting her cheeks red. She couldn’t help but nod and agree to his offer.. 

“Y-yeah, okay...” With the kiss, Mika’s heart began to flutter once more in her chest and her mind was sent spinning in heated passion filled pleasure. Still, somewhere in her mind she could feel the energy drain out of her body as he kissed her. 

“Alright, that’s enough.” She wasn’t sure who said it but felt like she should know. It was hard to think honestly. Erik pulled back.

“Awww... Very well. Mmmmm! I feel so much better!” Mika was left as a melting mush pool; feeling weak in the knees despite her resolve to stay standing in front of the boys that were before her. As she tried to speak, however, the world around her began to spin.

“Ahhh... I think I’m going to...” 

“Ah, where are our manners? I’m James and these are my brothers: Sam, Erik, Mathew and Damien.” Her mind barely had time to really collect what James had just said.  

“Miss, are you okay?” Was that Matthew who had spoken? It was hard to tell as the room began to spin faster then before and there was no reply from her as everything went dark.   

 

When she opened her eyes again she found herself in an unfamiliar place, the room wasn’t hers that was for certain; rather, it was not the room she had grown up in. Where was her mother? Her father? As she slowly came around again she felt the softness of a bed beneath her and took note of the warmth provided by a fire that was crackling on the wall opposite of the bed, just far enough away to not be of any danger but close enough to provide warmth. A mirror hung over the mantle and a set of glass doors to her right led to a balcony of some sort and were framed by large blue curtains; she knew her room didn’t have a balcony, her room wasn’t that bi- oh. Right, everything came rushing back. She wasn’t with her parents anymore, she lived in the home that had been her grandfather’s so it was no wonder that her surroundings were unfamiliar. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, taking in more of the room, there was a white dresser on one side of the fire place, between it and the balcony doors; a shelf on the wall that the bed rested against held books with titles that she had not seen before and there was a small nightstand to her left, that held a small lamp. That lamp, the fire, a hanging light and a standing light near the balcony doors were the only sources of light currently but they lit up the room well enough. She remembered coming to the house in the afternoon, so why was dark out already? It didn’t make any sense, she suppressed a yawn as she stretched.  _ Maybe I should get delivery for supper.  _ She had just finished stretching when she suddenly realized she was not alone. 

“... You’re awake.” She turned at the voice and nearly started when she met the deep blue eyes of Damien. She wasn’t sure what was worse, that she was startled to see him there or that the look in his eyes seemed to be... indescribable. Like he was trying to hold something back. Since when had he been standing there and who the heck was he?! A guy in her bedroom, that was something that was... Wait... if he was in the bedroom with her, had he...? 

“There’s no way!” She said, voicing her thoughts aloud in shock. The man closed his eyes, he seemed almost... pained? It was almost as odd as his presence in the room... perhaps more so. 

“Heh... sorry, I think I was saying my thoughts aloud.” He didn’t seem to respond to that at all, why was he looking at her like that and why the heck was she apologizing to a stranger? It was too unreal, but yet she had a feeling that it was only right... even if he was the one intruding instead of her. He looked eerily familiar and after a moment the rest of the day’s events came back to her. Incubus, that was what he was. He had his brothers had come to the mansion for refuge; two of them had kissed her and then she’d fainted, and that was how things came to this. Damien, she was sure that was his name, was leaning against the far wall of the room near the doorway.

“Oh!” Her mind began to race with all the possibilities of being in such a situation as this could entail. The thought of being under an incubus’ power in the bedroom was something that she didn’t like one bit. Still, considering that he wasn’t anywhere close to her and she was pretty sure that it would be rather useless to attempt to fight, she remained calm as she stared at him and he stared back. After all, he’d made no move towards her and she realized this was silly as she’d made all the conclusions and ideas herself; there was no point in being riled when he hadn’t even done anything to warrant it. She took a deep breath to help steady herself, she reasoned, after all, that if any of them had wanted to take advantage of her that they already would have and yet she found she was still wearing the same clothes she had been when she had arrived at the mansion that afternoon. A quick mental check reaffirmed what she already suspected. Nothing had happened. Not a thing. Well, aside from fainting in front of them and being brought up to the room she was in now.

“Yeah, I’m awake now.” She wasn’t sure if she was stating the obvious to reassure herself or him.

“That’s good.” A small form of a smile formed on his face and Mika felt her cheeks heat up a little. She wondered why that was; there was still one thing concerned her though that was in the back of her mind.

“I’m not going to use my powers on you.”

“Huh? How-” He closed his eyes and almost seemed to be withholding a sigh as he went on.

“I can read minds. It’s an ability I was born with. Each of us has a different ability outside of our usual mind-altering powers.” Really? More surprises? Although the idea of the other four having other abilities made her a bit uneasy she was also very curious as to what his brothers could do. The possibilities were probably endless, but for the moment she couldn’t come up with anything and so let the idea go. The idea that Damien could read her mind was sort of a double edged sword; while it might come in handy... it was also annoying. There was no way to keep secrets from this one... and by extension... probably not his brothers either. Well, this was quite the problem and she was sure he’d already known that considering he’d had to live with those powers for so long. At the same time though, she thought it was also a little cool he could do that... after all, what human at one time or another wouldn’t have thought to have such an ability themselves or something similar? 


	7. 6: A Gift

“How long have I been asleep?” 

“For a few hours. Heh, it’s already gotten quite dark outside.” She almost smiled as he seemed a little bit more relaxed now. She was almost completely certain that the brothers meant her no harm and she wasn’t going to purposely hurt them either. 

“Ah, well, where are the others?” 

“My brothers are downstairs cleaning up the blood from the lobby floor... hehe, and making you dinner as an apology.” Mika wondered if he’d gathered that last bit from reading his brothers’ minds or if he’d just known.

“Oh. Okay, that’s unexpectedly sweet.” She’d just been thinking about food moments earlier, it had never occurred to her even once that food would be waiting for her when she got downstairs. 

“Oh, it’s the least we could do after invading your home and two of us using our powers on you.” It was sweet of him to say, but honestly she wasn’t as mad about that as she might have been if she’d been anyone else; plus there was the fact that she’d practically invited the second by asking them for proof. Even so, it still irked her a bit that they had done so; particularly Sam, even if they were demons... it was pretty rude to demonstrate their powers by kissing her. She wasn’t some kind of human plaything after all. All of it seemed pretty unreal; like it was something out of some romance novel that she’d seen Naomi read from time to time. She wished she could go back to sleep and forget about all of this mess, but that wasn’t likely to happen; even if she could get back to sleep nothing would have changed and she’d still have five guests. She considered that maybe she should have called the police on them, as she’d threatened to do when they were still all unconscious; it would mean that she wouldn’t be in this situation, but at the same time she felt that wouldn’t have been a smart move. Not that she’d think they’d hurt anyone or her, but the other way around.

“Do you feel well enough to get out of bed?” 

“Yeah, I think so - WHOA!” She had tried to stand up only for her legs to give out. Before she knew what was happening, she found herself in his arms, he smiled down at her.

“Trust me, I won’t let you go.” 

“Uh... I’m not so sure about this.”

“I promise.” 

“Uh... okay. I trust you.” 

“Good.” She was speechless as he walked from the room with her in his arms; he carried her as if she didn’t weigh a thing... He was so strong...

“Thank you.” 

“Ehh?! Oh... yeah, I forgot...” Right. He could read minds. It was an easy thing to forget really when it wasn’t exactly something that one expected.

“It’s alright. I’m used to it.” She closed her mouth, hoping that her silence would keep her from making things more awkward than they already were though he didn’t seem to mind listening to her talk or carrying her... so at least things weren’t too strange... in a manner of speaking. Looking into his eyes, when he looked at her, she could see something of longing that was as far from being lustful as it could possibly be, It was more like... admiration...? It was very confusing really. Once in the lobby, Mika felt well enough to walk on her own and decided that was what she would do. While his carrying her was as if he was carrying nothing at all, she didn’t want to be carried into the dining room or make him carry her everywhere or anywhere else.  _ That would be mortifying. _ She thought. 

“Thanks for carrying me, but I think I can walk by myself now. Not saying that I didn’t like it. I mean, I liked it! Not in a weird way, of course; not like I get carried around all the time. What I am trying to say is that it was really nice of you to do that.” Wow that was a very wordy explanation... even for her! She just hoped that he got the message. 

“It’s no problem, I’ll be heading to the dining room then.” He smiled, well at least he seemed to get it. 

“A-alright, see you!” He set her down gently and left her standing there wondering why she’d fumbled with her words so badly. 

“Oh, hi!” She turned to see that a boy had come into the lobby from the direction of the dining room; he seemed to be bounding with energy. To her, he looked to be around her age or perhaps younger. It took her a moment before her memory supplied her with the answer; this was Matthew... wasn’t it?

“Ah, you’re Matthew, right?” He smiled.

“Mmhmm! That’s me. Are you feeling any better now? We were all worried when you suddenly passed out.”

“I’m fine.”

“Really? Your face is kind of red. Do you feel sick?”  _ Great... I guess I’m still blushing from being carried down by Damien. _

“N-no. I’m fine! I’m sure of it!”  _ It’s sweet of him to care, especially since we literally just met. _

“Well, if you say so. I hope Sam and Erik didn’t make you upset...” 

“It’s okay, after all I did hit Sam for what he did, and about Erik... I just wanted you guys to prove what you were saying. I suppose incubi are real.” She wondered, for a moment, how she’d gotten herself into this mess. First her grandfather, then the unexpected will, the deal with her father ... and now this? It seemed that as of late she had a knack for getting into sticky situations. 

“Hmmm.. oh, I have an idea!” He shoved his hands into his pockets with a cheery grin on his face and she couldn’t help but wonder what this idea of his was. 

“Wait for it, wait for it....” Wait for what? What  _ was _ he doing? Wait... could this be something to do with his other ability? Like with Damien? He pulled something out of one pocket, holding his hands over it.

“Tada!!” Sitting in one palm was a white creature that looked to be like some sort of plush squirrel, except that it had red eyes and it's ears were more like that of a rabbit’s in shape though they were only slightly bigger than the ears one expected to see on a squirrel. It had a sort of evil grin on its face and was holding a miniature knife in one paw.

“Um, what... is that, exactly?” She wasn’t sure what it was supposed to be in all honesty. He smiled as if to wave it off, but froze in shock when he opened his eyes and actually saw the thing he was holding.

“Wait a second... what did I just make?! T-this is...” She couldn’t help but wonder what he meant to say.

“AAAAH!! WHAT IS THAT?!” He didn’t know? 

“I-I’m not sure...” How could he not know? Hadn’t he said something about making it? When the thing suddenly let out mischievous laughter he dropped and scooted back away from it frantically as if it had bitten him or something. 

“G-get it away from me! It might be possessed by a demon or something!”  _ But isn’t he a demon himself? _ Mika wasn’t sure if she should laugh at that or be concerned that he would say something of that sort, seeing as he was a demon too. 

“That’s not what I wanted to make!! I just wanted to surprise you with a stuffed animal or just something to cheer you up... But that looks like it came straight out of a horror movie...”  He slumped his shoulders and looked at his feet where he stood; she felt bad for him. He really had only meant well, it wasn’t his fault that had happened. 

“Awww, it’s okay. You don’t have to look so dejected. I mean, it’s certainly unique... I think I’ll keep it.” 

“But it looks so creepy!” He seemed surprised that she would want to keep it. 

“It’s the thought that counts, right? You wanted to cheer me up after all.” She picked up the doll and examined it more closely. It certainly was pretty weird and creepy, as Matthew had said, but at the same time it was also cute in its own way. She gave him a small smile. 

“Thanks.” He smiled.

“Haha, you’re welcome. It’s good to see you smiling. Even though the thing I made still kind of creeps me out... Anyway, you should come with me to the dining room! We’re almost finished with the food, and, well, I don’t mean to brag, but we’re pretty decent chefs.”

“Sounds great, lead the way!” Something smelled really good once they were in the dining room. Her stomach agreed with her thoughts as it rumbled a little at the tantalizing smell. 

“Oh, the girl’s awake.” Mika glanced over to see one of the brothers, the one she recognized to be Sam; the one who’d had the guts to kiss her when they’d first met. 

“Excuse you, I have a name you know!”  _ So rude. _ How was he related to the others? He behaved like he’d been raised in a barn!

“Should we really care?” That earned him a glare.

“Sam, I will roast that tongue for dinner if it doesn’t stop flapping in that idiotic mouth of yours.” Mika looked over to see the tallest of the brothers, she searched her mind a moment before she remembered. James, he also seemed to be the more proper of the group as well and had the most obvious manners that reminded her of her grandfather, in a way. 

“Psh. Whatever.” Why was it that Sam seemed so crude when even Matthew and the more silent Damien seemed to have at least the basics of what passed as manners? James turned to her while Sam went to find himself a seat.

“I apologize for his attitude.”

“O-oh, that’s fine.” Why was he taking responsibility? Was he, perhaps, the oldest? He smiled, he seemed to have a warm personality and it showed in his eyes.

“Heh, good. I hope you’ll enjoy the meal we prepared for you.” 

“Meal?” For a moment she’d forgotten the reason she’d even come into the dining room; maybe it was the doll getting into her head and distracting her. She had brought it with her after all. After a moment it clicked; Damien and Matthew had mentioned that they were cooking as a form of apology. 


	8. 7: How This Happened

“O-oh, wait, you didn’t have to.” James smiled. 

“We insist. Besides, it’s impossible to “undo” our cooking, even if you command us to.” Command them to? Where was  **that** coming from? It wasn’t like they were servants or anything who were hired to do this. 

“Alright, well... thank you!” She had to admit that he did have a point there. One couldn’t “undo” an action like cooking, although was it really even possible to undo any action? Matthew moved into her line of sight, when had he left her side? ... He finished putting plates down on the large table that was built to easily fit at least eight people comfortably. Behind one seat at one end was a sort of vanity, why it was there she wasn’t sure. She wasn’t used to this sort of thing and could only guess at its purpose as much as why there were seats along the walls next to nightstands that held candle sticks that were empty, currently, of candles. When he had finished setting the plates down, Matthew gave a bow and gestured to the table with a sweeping motion of one arm. 

“Ahh, there we go! Dinner’s all served!” His words didn’t exactly go with his gesture, but it was close enough. The table was filled with a wide variety of food, the range of cuisines was a surprise to her; while one seemed to be filled mostly with Asian dishes, another portion of the table held various delicious looking desserts. 

“Whoa! That’s a lot of food, and it all looks so good!” 

“We hope you enjoy it, my sweet.” Came a sultry voice from her left and she glanced over to see that the voice belonged to another of the brothers, Erik was his name.

“W-what? Sweet? Me?” She had never thought of herself in that way, particularly since no one in her life, besides her mother, had ever used any sort of term of endearment like that with her. 

“That’s enough Erik.” James spoke up. 

“Hmph, you’re no fun James.” Was Erik teasing her? He moved to take one of the seats at the table away from Sam.

“I don’t need to be fun, Erik.” This seemed a bit typical of the brothers, it was interesting to see.

“Miss, please follow me.” He took her arm, much like a real gentleman would to escort a lady of old times to some place fancy. He offered his arm, she wasn’t sure what had come over her; whether it was his politeness or his charm, but she took his arm. His grip was firm, but gentle; it made her wonder all the more as each of the brothers seemed to be so very different from one another. James seemed very kind and intelligent, but that wasn’t the only thing that set him apart from his brothers; aside for not seeming to have much appreciation for them, there was just something about the way he held himself that made him seem different, but what exactly it was she couldn’t exactly put her finger on. 

“Miss, I have to ask, why do you live alone?” She couldn’t fault him for his curiosity as he led her to one of the chairs at the end of the table.

“It’s kind of a long story.”

“I’m all ears if you wish to tell.” She wasn’t sure if it was because of his willingness to listen to her or perhaps an ability that he had that made her feel she could tell him, and the others, the story of how she had come to the mansion. There was no reason that they needed to know, but at the same time there was no reason to not tell them; it was basically just a choice of preference.

“Sure. Well, to put it briefly, I just moved here today.” 

“That explains the luggage you brought in when you came through the front doors. By the way, we put your belongings in the room you were sleeping in - that seems to be the master bedroom, I believe.” 

“Thanks. This house is really big... I don’t think I even explore the entirety of this place when I was a child.” 

“You lived here before?” 

“No, truth be told this is my grandfather’s house. I used to visit him all of the time when I was younger.” 

“ ... May I ask why you now live in your grandfather’s house?” She normally would not have said anything further, but the gentle way he had asked the question, his tone, something about it made her feel comfortable and so she answered; not even really sure as she did if the other boys were listening to their conversation.

“He actually passed away yesterday. It was given to me in his will, and I was sent to live here, whether I liked it or not...” 

“My condolences. It seems like you don’t like the idea of living here.” 

“It’s not that I don’t like this house, or that I don’t have fond memories here... it’s the implications that came with living at the estate. It’s kind of complicated to explain.” 

“How do you feel about it?” The question caught her off guard, but not in a bad way; he seemed so much more mature than half the people she’d met in college who were around her age. 

“I feel.... Angry, sad, scared and confused. It’s hard to pick out the different emotions that I’m feeling right now. I wish I was stronger...” 

“You don’t have to be strong.” She was startled by this and how simply he’d said it; she’d been told all her life - in some way or another - that she had to be. 

“What do you mean?” 

“I understand that you’re going through a difficult time, so it’s okay to feel those emotions. You don’t have to be strong at all.” She didn’t? There was some relief at hearing those words, in knowing that someone would not only listen, but would care enough to be strong for her and allow her to express herself; allow her to have a moment of weakness and not tear her down for it. Allow her to be more herself. 

“... Thank you.” 

“Ah, are you alright? There seems to be a small bruise on your cheek.”  _ Right.... From a week ago, The make up from today must have worn off. _ He caught her off guard, she was sure that no one would have noticed that. 

“O-oh, I’m fine.” In the midst of a disagreement with her father, she’d made him upset and he’d never been one to back away from physical punishment if he thought it necessary. The slap though, had been because she’d brought up the touchy subject of her grandfather and despite her efforts to find out what had happened.... All she’d gotten from that conversation was the slap. He stopped with her next to her chair and leaned close, a little too close for comfort... or maybe it was just her. He was qutie tall, at least a foot taller; he had to bend a little just to look her straight in the face. It was hard to actually look at him when he was so close, but after a moment he straightened. 

“Hm... well, if you’re having any problems I’m always here to listen.” She couldn’t help but smile at the offer. 

“That’s really kind of you to offer.”

“My pleasure. Here’s your seat.”

“Let me get your chair for you, lovely lady.” Erik spoke up from the other side of her and pulled out the chair. When had he gotten there? 

“Oh! Uh...” Erik was very charming and his smile pulled at her heart; the way he kept flirting though definitely designated him as the charmer of the demons, yet there was a little distance in his eyes at the same time. It was like he was putting on some sort of play instead of really living and she couldn’t help but feel a bit of kinship with him over it, after all... hadn’t her life been like that at one point before she’d met her best friends? As she sat down he spoke again.

“By the way, I apologize for my behavior earlier, stealing your second kiss like that...”

“Huh?” She looked up at him as he scooted the chair in for her; his expression seemed genuinely regretful.

“It’s f-fine, I guess. I mean, you didn’t just get up and grab a kiss for no reason.” He grinned at that.

“I’m not as forward, unlike Sam, haha.” Suddenly he leaned in and whispered in her ear.

“I won’t lie, though... I enjoyed kissing you and feeling you melt in my arms...” She was torn between smacking him, thinking that it might be just him teasing her again, and playing it cool as she felt her cheeks heat up at his words.


	9. 8: Not What They Seem

While there was the impulse to lightly smack him, she refrained from doing so; the look in his eyes from earlier flashing in her mind’s eye. She took a deep breath to help calm herself, there was nothing to be gained in smacking him and... well, it wasn’t like he had any ill-intent towards her. 

“You sure are quite the charmer.” 

“Yes, I am known for that.” 

“As much as I do appreciate the compliments, you don’t have to keep talking to me like that.” 

“Like what?” Was that a flash of surprise she’d seen in his gaze a few seconds ago? He batted his eyelashes like he had no idea what she was talking about and she couldn’t help but giggle.

“Well, like you’re trying to get into my pants half the time.” 

“I can assure you I’m just a lover of beautiful women.” 

“Something tells me that there’s more to you than that.” For a moment he looked away and seemed to lose a bit of his smile, but before she could question it he’d turned back with a new, teasing smile. 

“Did you want there to be more~?” She felt her cheeks heat again and she turned away from his gaze, not wanting to hit him. He merely chuckled once more near her ear.

“Hehe, sorry. You just look so cute when you’re blushing...” That didn’t help at all, she swore her face must be flaming red by now as she felt him take one of her hands and kiss the back of it. 

“I hope you’ll enjoy dinner, however, my dear.” Her attention was drawn back to the food; she was both intrigued and slightly scared at the amount of food that had been served up. There was no way she could eat all of this, not matter how good it looked or smelled. Seeing her expression, he leaned forward and smiled proudly, gesturing to all of the dishes with a dramatic sweep of his arm. 

“I made almost all of the dishes myself.” Matthew looked at Erik with a shocked expression, as if he’d just been betrayed. Mika glanced at the others and saw Matthew frown.

“And I’m the queen of the Nile!” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She felt a giggle rise in her chest.

“Me, you, and James did all the work, dummy!” 

“It’s ‘You, James, and I’ Matthew...” James interjected, Erik chuckled, but Mika instantly felt bad for Matthew.

“Little boys will always make mistakes.” Matthew looked at James in disbelief, as if the other had sided with Erik, before he turned his attention back to Erik. 

“I am not a little boy! I’m barely a year younger than you!” A year younger than Erik? Did that make Erik the second youngest then? Regardless, she thought that Erik’s words were a little harsh towards his own brother. Matthew did seem young, but not  _ that _ young...  

“Well, you certainly don’t act like it.” The condescending tone was obvious, it made Mika want to frown. Why was he being so mean to his own brother? At the same time, however, she couldn’t help but giggle because the scene was just adorable too. It was true that Matthew did seem to act a little like a kid, but that only made him cute in her mind. She couldn’t help but feel that, in a way, he was more mature than the rest of his brothers, especially Erik. From what she’d seen so far, he was the only one who didn’t seem afraid to be himself; regardless of what anyone else thought. 

“H-huh? Is something funny?” They were all looking at her now.

“Haha! No, no, it’s nothing at all! Thank you for the meal, all of you.”

“Oh, ahaha! You’re welcome, miss!” The three of them smiled at her.

“Such a well-mannered young lady, beautiful inside and out.” 

“Erik, knock it off!” Matthew said, clearly annoyed by his brother; James didn’t seem too amused either; Sam glared at Erik from where he sat, obviously agreeing with Matthew. Damien was the only one who seemed to be neutral about the entire thing... or if he thought anything he was keeping it to himself.

“Seriously, you’re getting  **really** annoying with that suck-up act.” It was obvious to Mika now that Sam was the “bad boy” of the group of brothers. He had a big “tough guy” act and was obviously physically stronger than the rest of them, but was there more to him than that? Was it like with Erik, that his act was just that? Each of them, except for Damien, seemed to have some sort of “role” that they fit into and presented to the world. Erik being the flirt, Matthew being the “baby brother,” James seemed to be the “older brother,” and Damien... he was the “quiet one” of the group. Still, there seemed to be that underlying something to each of them that she was sure was the real them. It was either that or she was hoping for too much; they were demons after all, but did that mean that what she saw in them now was all there was? She didn’t think so, but the only way to know for sure was to get closer to them. Did she really want to? She knew the risk of doing that, the risk being that she could fall in love with the one she was trying to get close to. The idea both thrilled and scared her. Five boys... which one did she want to take that risk with? Her thoughts on that were interrupted by Erik, who was defending himself.       

“I’m just trying to be a gentleman! The young lady has already gone through so much, she deserves a good treatment.” Okay, so he at least had heard what she and James had been talking about earlier... or at least had the forethought to keep that in mind. It was sweet that he wanted to do that for her and the thought of it warmed her heart a little. 

“There’s a difference between being a gentleman and being an obnoxious flirt.” James spoke up. Matthew just seemed to be gaping a little before grinning, Sam seemed to smirk at this while Erik seemed caught between being annoyed and hurt by what James had said.

“Hahaha! Schooled even by James! You’re going to need some cold water for that burn!” While Mika agreed with Matthew on that last bit, she couldn’t help but feel torn between laughing a little at his statement and feeling sorry for Erik. Sam chuckled a little, but Mika decided not to join in on their laughter though Damien seemed to chuckle as well. Seemed that Erik got the short end of the stick on this one. True, Erik did flirt a little too much, but did James have to say it that way? He was just trying to be nice to her after all, and that was the only way he seemed to know how to; there was nothing wrong with that, was there? 

“By the way, I don’t believe we caught your name, even though you know each of us.” James said. 

“Ah, I’m Mika.” 

“It’s a pleasure to finally know your name.” He smiled as he spoke.

“Yeah! That’s a nice name!” Matthew piped up.The five of them seemed comfortable around her, despite the awkward situation they were all in. It was as if it was natural for them to be around humans; though considering they were incubi... it seemed to make sense that they would be and that was how they worked, that they were naturally inclined to be comfortable around humans. After all, humans were their source of food... or so James had mentioned. She was still curious about one thing though as they all settled around the food.

“Excuse me.” All of them looked over at her; she didn’t know why, but having them all look at her at once made her feel...kind of important, like some sort of queen or something. It was weird, she’d never really had others pay attention to her like this. 

“What is it miss?” James asked. That seemed a little formal, but that seemed to also be part of his personality.

“I wanted to thank you for the food, but I still want to know why you all came here. I feel like I don’t understand.” That was an understatement, like having a bunch of incubi show up wounded in one’s new home was completely understandable in any sense of the word. 

“Oh... um, how do we explain...?” Matthew began.

“We were attacked. We came here to heal. What’s so difficult to understand?” Sam’s tone was full of annoyance. It wasn’t that she didn’t understand that much, but it wasn’t really that simple. After all, demons certainly weren’t just born and lived in normal human society; they were considered myths! Surely there was more to the story than had been told. 

“Now you’re just being rude, Sam.” Erik commented with disdain. 

“I’m just saying! How difficult is that to understand?!”

“No, I mean what specifically happened.”

“Well... you see, we’ve been traveling around for quite some time now. Just recently we came into town, but we were jumped by this band of... misfits.” Misfits? Well, gangs weren’t unheard of.

“So, in order to escape and heal, we came here for shelter. Again, we apologize for the mess we made.” 

“It’s fine, I guess. So, you’re all better now, right?”  

“Yup! All thanks to you!” Matthew smiled.  _ Wait, thanks to me? What exactly happened when I passed out? _ She began to wonder, had they ALL kissed her? 

“Huh? Me?” 

“You see, beautiful, we feed on sexual energy, but we don’t just get it from kissing lovely ladies such as yourself. We can simply touch someone’s hand to obtain sexual energy. Everyone carries sexual energy, you know.”  _ Ah... I didn’t know... but I do now. _ So it was any physical touch then? That was a bit of a relief... and it explained why she’d been out for so long too. The drain of two just to heal obviously had been enough to cause her to pass out; but the drain of five... that had to have been too much and even explained why she’d still felt tired even when she’d woken up. The brothers intrigued her, but at the same time warning bells went off in the back of her mind. So far they had been nothing but kind to her - mostly, but the fact that they were demons who fed on sexual energy left no doubts in her mind that they were dangerous and getting close to any one of them could be even more so. 


	10. 9: The Decision

“Is there anything else you wish to know?” Jame’s voice broke into her thoughts.

“Well, what do you plan to do now?”

“Yeah, what are we going to do now, James?” Yup, definitely the unofficial leader of the group.

“That is a very good question. We just got here, and, surely, we’ll be hunted again if we leave.” 

“We can take ‘em. Easily.” Sam sounded pretty confident, though hadn’t they lost that fight, technically, the first time?

“Not without more training, Sam. The result of previous training was clearly evident in our last encounter with them...” At that moment, she wasn’t sure what came over her, but she felt sorry for them. They didn’t seem to deserve what had happened to them. Gang or not, it wasn’t right to just attack someone for coming into town. They couldn’t possibly survive out there if they clearly didn’t understand that it was illegal to break into people’s homes. There was likely a bunch of other stuff that they didn’t know either about normal society; even if they had been traveling a while, obviously there were some things about how things worked with humans that they weren’t aware of. They would probably end up causing chaos all over town without actually meaning to. Even worse, they could be taken in for questioning by authorities and poked and prodded at like lab rats. That sort of thing wouldn’t go well for anyone. Most of all, however, the situation the five of them faced now reminded her of a time, back in her childhood, before she had met her two best friends. She had been alone, watching the world go by like it was a movie of some sort; she’d not just been alone, she’d been lonely too. She’d made the rash decision to go in search of her grandfather, having had his address scribbled on a piece of paper. It was a rash decision for someone who was only seven at the time, but she hadn’t known where to actually go and had soon found herself lost. She’d ended up against a wall of a building, watching people pass by, but fortunately her grandfather had found her and recognized her. It had been that day that things in her life had changed and she had ceased being just a mere observer of life around her; she’d become a part of it. Here, now, she had a chance to offer help to the five of them, just like help had been offered to her in the form of her grandfather that day so many years ago. She wasn’t sure this was the best idea, having  _ five _ demons in her house wasn’t the living arrangement she’d imagined when the idea of moving in had first come about. She was pretty sure that if anyone knew she had just one, let alone five... there’d definitely be chaos. People were always afraid of what they didn’t understand and surely the discovery of the boys as anything but human would bring down on the home any and every type of religious leader in the area to try and “exorcise” them from her home. The thought of that was definitely too much for her to bear thinking on, but still as long as they weren’t found out... how much trouble would it really be? They had obviously cleaned up the mess they’d made and had made her dinner as an apology; they certainly weren’t the malevolent creatures that everyone made them out to be. They had taken her energy, true, but they hadn’t actually hurt her in any sense of the word. Even if they could pass for humans though, how was she supposed to explain having five guys living in the mansion with her? She could imagine that if her friends came over that they’d she’d think she’d become part of a harem or something.  _ Oh God... if my parents came over and found out... my mother would faint!  _ Who knew what her father would do in that situation... likely have them arrested on the spot.  _ But still... it would be wrong to not offer them help when they clearly need it... Ugh, this is hard. Maybe I should have written out a list of pros and cons..... No, no time. I know what needs to be done. _ She’d remembered what her grandfather had told her once, about not worrying too much and just doing what made her happy. Living alone in this place didn’t really make her happy, she needed the company and - even if it was only temporary - there was no real reason to not help the brothers out. Thinking about helping them made her happy, weird as that might sound when spoken aloud, so she was going to take the advice her grandfather had given her back then. She clenched her hands into fists to help strengthen her resolve to speak up.

“Well, um... you could...” She began a little timidly.

“What was that, lovely lady?” Erik smiled her way.

“That is... uh...” Why did that smile affect her so?

“Spit it out already!” Geez.... so impatient and crude, but... it helped.

“You could stay here with me, if you like.” As soon as the words had left her, the room seemed to become still. She wasn’t sure what was going through their heads or what might be at her offer; the silence was like a knife and so she spoke up once more.

“It seemed like you all needed a place to stay, and, well I just moved into this giant house, so it seemed like it made sense.” Still no response from any of them so she just kept talking, not sure if she was trying to convince them or herself at this point; she had thought it all out but would they take such an offer? She honestly didn’t like the idea of being by herself, especially not in such a huge place as this.

“If you would like to stay here, though, there are two things that I need all of you to follow.”

“Yes?” It was James who spoke, it made her feel better because at least his response meant that they were seriously considering her offer; they were paying attention to her and listening! This was still new to her to have people who weren’t her friends pay her any sort of attention or would be willing to listen to what she said... but she continued on, not thinking on that too much or she might just lose track of what it was she wanted to say.

“First of all, you can’t use your powers or deliberately do something that might harm me or any guest that comes over. Well, save for enemies, but you get the drift.”

“That sounds reasonable.” Damien spoke, surprising her a little since he’d barely said two words since she’d met him and the others. 

“Second, you have to help me out with any errands around the house. This place is kind of big so... yeah.” 

“That is a generous offer, miss. Are you sure that would be okay? We don’t wish to burden you anymore than we have.” James spoke up again, but this time she wasn’t surprised that he did or by his words. She’d made up her mind and she’d spoken; she wasn’t going to back down now, and this was her home now, after all. For once in her life, this decision was hers to make, not her father’s or grandfather’s or even her mother. Her. 

“It’s alright, really! I mean, I just started living here myself so I would appreciate some help around the house...” 

“A wonderful idea! We’ll live here and train while helping you around the house! Servants for the lovely princess!” Sam didn’t seem too keen on Erik’s thought trail.

“What?! Are you serious?!” He protested, Mika nearly sighed aloud. That was  _ not _ what she’d said or meant...  

“Shhh, be quiet Sam! I haven’t slept in a bed for days!!” Matthew hissed at his brother, but she could still hear what he said and it only made her feel more empathetic for them. Damien chuckled a little, seeming amused; it seemed that Sam was out numbered here in terms of liking the idea of staying at the mansion and helping take care of the place. Despite that they were incubi, she didn’t really mind the idea of having them stay with her; not just because she believed she needed the help, but it would be nice to have some company around the place. Just to have someone to talk to, even if that someone was as harsh as Sam, it was better than being alone. 


	11. 10: A House Party

It would be interesting, having five guys to help take care of the mansion; given that they followed the rules she had given them and while Sam had protested, she didn’t think that he would break the rules anymore than his brothers would. In all honesty, she was pretty sure none of them had any thoughts to breaking the rules in light that they didn’t want to ruin the hospitality she had just extended to them for no reason other than that she wished to help them in their time of need. 

“Gahhh, fine; but we’re not staying here forever. Only until we can beat up that group of punks.” 

“I think that is a reasonable time limit for our stay.” She was a little surprised that James seemed to agree with Sam, but he did have a point. There wasn’t any way that she could keep them here forever, she wasn’t thinking that far ahead anyway. 

“Yes!! This is awesome!!” Matthew’s enthusiasm made her smile a little.

“Also, beautiful, if you need a bed fellow...” Why did it not surprise her that Erik would offer  **that** sort of service? She hadn’t exactly set any rules for that sort of thing, but that was mostly because she doubted they’d be around long enough and she had no intentions of doing that sort of thing with any of them. Though... that might change in the future, she felt her cheeks heat up; darn him! 

“Uh....”

“Erik, knock it off.” James seemed stern with his brother; he was the one who was most likely to keep his brothers in line and abide by the rules as she had a feeling that he, out of them all, most did not want to ruin her offer. She wasn’t sure if that was endearing or annoying honestly; after all... it was almost tempting to see what it would take to make him lose control of himself for once and perhaps step a toe out of line just a little.... She shook the thoughts violently from her head. What was she just thinking just now?!  _ What have I gotten myself into.... _ She swallowed a little, her cheeks flaming as it was; she hoped that none of her thoughts were obvious to the boys. She brought her thoughts back to where they should be, on the agreement; she was happy, honestly, that they had agreed to stay. Although her reasons for that were something of a mystery even to her own mind, she was mostly sure it was because she didn’t want to be alone, but it could also have been because they needed help and her want to help other people was being fulfilled. She’d probably never know the answer to it.

“So what are we waiting for?! Let’s celebrate and dig in!” She nodded as Matthew looked at the food in earnest.

“Finally!! I’m starving!” Sam echoed the sentiment. The two instantly began to stuff themselves with food. Noticing the way James’ eye was twitching in irritation at the two, Mika stifled her laughter. There was nothing wrong with a healthy appetite and it seemed like these two certainly had one and weren’t afraid to show it. 

“Really, you two?! You’re both acting like pigs!” 

“Oh, let them have a little freedom, James. It’s not like we’ve eaten recently either. I’m sure they’ve been starving.” Mika felt her heart clench at Erik’s words; how rough must they have had it to have had no food or proper beds? 

“Still, that’s no excuse for stuffing their faces like backyard swine.” James replied even as Mika picked from the choices of food on the table for her own plate. She couldn’t help but chuckle, however, at the scene before her that was playing out; as she did, Matthew and Sam looked her way. 

“Is something funny?” Matthew looked bewildered.

“What are you laughing at?” She stopped to catch her breath, leaning over the table before taking a few deep breaths so she could reply.

“You both are so funny!” The shocked look on their faces was worth it; their cheeks had a soft pink tint on it before they looked away to swallow the food they had in their mouths. It was adorable! 

“S-shut up! We’re not funny! We’re hungry!” 

“Well, we’re glad that we made you laugh...” Matthew’s statement made Sam look at him in shock; yup, he really did have a maturity that the others lacked. 

“Shut up, Matthew!” Sam just proved it right there.

“What?! I’m just saying!!” It was cute, really, watching them behave like any other family of brothers even as she chuckled. It was really impossible for it to not be amusing because it was something so normal in a situation that was the furthest from being normal. 

“See, James? It’s entertainment for her!” Mika had the feeling that James didn’t share the sentiment. They were funny to her, at least they enjoyed the food without any sort of mask about it; there was no reason one should hide that they enjoyed a good meal and she ate some of what was on her own plate. She felt no regret now about the decision she had made; it had been the right one for sure and something told her that the lack of normalcy around the place would be good. The other brothers settled down to eat and while it was strange eating with just guys it was enjoyable to have them around. They made her feel as if she were a part of their family rather than an on-looker; however, the unusual peace that they were enjoying was soon broken by a familiar sound. She looked at her phone.

“Huh? It’s my mom... excuse me.” She got up from the table and went to the lobby, leaving the boys to eat their meal in peace while she answered the phone.

“Hello?” 

“Hey, honey! How are you? I’m sorry I didn’t get to see you off.

“Hi, mom. Everything’s fine, I’m actually eating dinner right now.” She hoped the quiet noise from the other room didn’t drift over the phone; she didn’t want to have to explain that over the phone... although she supposed she could always just say she was eating out... 

“Oh! Good, good. So there was food there. Well, your father wanted me to call and talk to you about having a house party tomorrow night, to celebrate the new house and all.” Mika was pretty sure she paled. A... house party! This wasn’t good... how was she going to explain the presence of the guys?! 

“A house party? Tomorrow night? So soon?”

“Your father insists... you know how he is with events.” Mika nearly groaned. She knew what her mother meant, her father didn’t like having long relaxing periods between important events; it was slightly messed up, in her opinion. He was expecting her to act at the drop of a hat, from moving immediately after grandfather’s funeral and now to organizing this house party.   

“I know.. Well, since I don’t exactly have you two here to help me arrange it, I’m going to need some time to prepare things.” She hoped that would be a good excuse to delay it.

“Oh, that’s fine. I mean, Suzu and Naomi can help. I have work and you know how your father is...” Drat... so much for stalling for time. 

“I know. I have to do it myself. He won’t help.” He had never helped in anything, always saying she needed to do it herself. So she really hadn’t relied on him for anything, at least not that she remembered... 

“I’m sure it will be amazing, honey. I have faith in you.”  _ Great, mom... thanks for that. _

“Thanks, mom.” She left the sarcasm out of her voice, it wasn’t her mother’s fault after all and she didn’t deserve it.

“Alright. I gotta go; I love you sweetie.”   

“I love you too, mom.” 

“Great... now how am I going to do this?” She murmured to herself as she headed back to the table to finish dinner.

“Is something wrong?” She looked over at Erik, well... there was no getting around telling them. 

“She has to organize a house party for her parents.” Damien spoke up, saving Mika the trouble of explaining. 

“Huh? How did you - oh... right. Mindreading.” She’d forgotten he could do that. Damien chuckled and gave her a small smile, he seemed amused that she’d forgotten that already. 

“But yeah. I gotta do it soon or my parents will be really disappointed. I’ll have to stay up and organize everything tonight...” She wasn’t looking forward to the prospect of it. 

“Hey, why don’t we help you? That’s what we’re here for, right?” Matthew spoke up and while she wasn’t sure about that she was grateful for the offer. 

“I don’t see why not.” James agreed.

“I can name a few reasons why we shouldn’t.” Of course Sam would be the one to protest, but it wasn’t like she blamed him. After all this was her house, it was her party, so it was her responsibility. 

“Sam.” James said with a disapproving look. 

“Back off!” 

“We’ll take care of everything miss. Just leave everything to us.” Sam seemed resigned at that; much as she appreciated the help, she didn’t think she should leave everything to just them, especially when they were her guests. It was surprising that they’d offer to help right off the bat like that, well... four of the five anyway. Damien and Erik hadn’t seemed to have any reservations in helping anymore than Matthew or James. She couldn’t help but smile; rather thankful now that she’d let them stay. She didn’t have to do everything alone, but as she thought about it though she began to yawn; it had been a long day. 

“Feeling a little tired over there, princess?” Princess? Why was Erik calling me that suddenly?

“Yeah, haha... It’s been a rather long day. At least tomorrow is the weekend, so I can sleep in a bit.” At the mention of that though, a new thought hit her.

“Wait! Where are you all going to sleep?” 

“We found some guest rooms on the opposite end of the house from the master bedroom. I’m sure those will do just fine.” She felt relieved at that. 

“Oh, got it. Alright then, I’m heading to my room to study and sleep. I guess I’ll see you all tomorrow?” 

“Have a good night.” Erik said with a smile.

“I will, you too!” With that said, she left the dining room and headed off to her room. As soon as she got to her room a wave of exhaustion hit her; it really had been quite the day. 

“Why am I so tired all of the sudden? I just woke up from a nap.” She murmured to herself, going over the day’s events in her mind. It had been a long day, first school, moving into the new house, discovering the boys... Was it maybe because of the energy the boys had drained? Still, she’d taken a nap, shouldn’t that have re-energized her? Maybe it was all that good food she’d eaten. She knew she had to study a page or two at least before she could go to bed; tired as she was she ended up reading the same page several times before it finally clicked into her brain. With another yawn she decided sleep was a must now and changed into some pajamas before slipping beneath the silk covers and drifting off. 


	12. 11: Surprise!

“Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Three days of surprises in a row would kill me.” Although she muttered it to herself she wasn’t sure about it. As she closed her eyes she wondered why the first thing she saw was the velvety eyes of Erik and the sound of his voice. Even if he was using his flirting as an act, she knew there was something more to him than just that; she had seen it... in the way he’d looked away... how, for a brief moment, the smile had faltered. She wondered what it would take to reveal the true person behind the flirt... the next pair of eyes that seemed to bore into her were Sam’s green... there was something... else behind those eyes. Surely he wasn’t just the brute he acted to be and the kiss he’d stolen from her had been soft and delicate... not harsh in any way. The golden brown eyes of James that followed her into sleep seemed to watch her with great care, was there really something more beneath the eyes of the one who seemed to shoulder all the responsibility? Next came the quiet gaze of Damien, the stormy orbs that seemed to know everything and held so very much... yet could be so caring and thoughtful... Last, but not least, were the brilliant blues of Matthew, eyes that seemed youthful and at the same time, so wise... like he was hiding some big secret and knew it. Soon though the dream began to morph and soon all she could see was darkness, followed by someone’s laugh; a laugh that sent chills down her spine. 

“You fucking pretty boys think you’re all that, huh? Well, say that to the end of my pistol!” 

“Huh? What’s going on?” She couldn’t move, couldn’t see anything beyond the darkness that seemed to surround her. It felt like she was tired up by something, what exactly was hard to tell; she could hear the sounds of a heated argument all around her.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! One move and she gets it!”

“Let her go!!” Matthew?!

“Come on, chicken shit! Fight us like a real man!” Sam?!

“Like you scare me, Sam! COME ON! Take one step. I DARE ya...”  _ Why can’t I see? Am I blindfolded or something?! _

“Stay away from her Malix!” Malix? Who was Malix and was James there too? 

“And what are you going to do, nerd boy?” Whoever this Malix was, he was starting to get on her nerves. Suddenly she felt someone pull her to one side and wrap arms around her protectively. 

“I’ve got you, don’t worry.” Erik?! As she was held in the tight embrace the world around her seemed to settle into a peaceful hum; the hostility of the dream faded as the arms around her comfortingly rocked her. As the dream faded from her mind, her eyes slowly fluttered open and she realized there was an element of reality to her dream as she looked up to see that the person holding her was the only one who hadn’t seemed to be in the dream... or if he had been he hadn’t spoken up.

“D-Damien?” His face was painted with worry and concern, and she knew that he must have seen her dream. Why had she dreamed it was Erik who was holding her though? 

“You can’t control your dreams.” He replied. She guessed that had to be true, she’d never known anyone who’d been able to control what they dreamed about, let alone the dream itself. 

“Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you. What time is it?” 

“It’s 9 am. James and I were making breakfast when I... uh... Well...” 

“You can’t control your mind-reading?”

“No. Not yet, at least; I hope to learn eventually though.” 

“Is everything alright?” She glanced to the door to see that James had come up to the room.

“Huh? Yeah, I’m alright.” Why was there such a fuss over a nightmare? 

“That’s good. I’m assuming you had a nightmare?” She nodded. 

“Yes. I’m sorry for disturbing you both.” 

“You didn’t disturb us, miss. Besides, we’d rather make sure you’re okay before anything.” That made her blush. 

“O-oh. Thank you...” What else could she say to that? 

“Now, why don’t you come downstairs with us and have some breakfast? I’m sure some nice food will take your mind off of what you dreamt of.” Food sounded like a good idea. It was embarrassing, really, to be the damsel-in-distress once again, but she felt happy that James and Damien were concerned for her, despite only knowing her for a short time; she wasn’t sure if it was just out of courtesy from them or if they were genuinely concerned. Well, it didn’t really matter; it was just a dream anyway and it wasn’t like she could read their minds. 

“Alright.” Damien let her go so she could get up and the two led her back to the dining room; the smell of bacon and eggs wafted through the air. It seemed to be drifting from the kitchen, dancing tantalizingly through the room, making her stomach growl a little as the aroma seemed to taunt it.  

“Breakfast smells good!” 

“We should be done with breakfast soon; if you want to sit down at the table, you can.” Damien said even as James disappeared into the kitchen again. She nodded before taking a seat; as she did so, however, her mind drifted back to the dream she’d had. That feeling of hostility around her made her body shudder instinctively, even though she knew it wasn’t real; it had certainly seemed like it. She closed her eyes briefly, but as she did so she felt a hand place itself on top of her head, breaking her out of her thoughts.

“Huh?” 

“Morning. You alright?” It surprised her that it was Sam, but she nodded a little.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” No use in making a big deal out of something that wasn’t real. Sam raised an eyebrow at her before ruffling her hair and moving to sit down at the table. He then barked towards the kitchen, where James was working on finishing up breakfast.

“HEY! IS THE FOOD DONE YET?! I’M STARVING!” 

“There’s no need to yell, Sam!” Was the irritated reply.

“YOU’RE YELLING TOO!”

“Don’t argue with me!!” Sam seemed to smirk a little even as Erik appeared from behind and sat next to her, rubbing his temples in obvious annoyance.   
“Can we not yell this early in the morning? It’s not like we’re in the castle.”  

“Castle?!” She couldn’t help the sudden outburst, this was the first she’d heard of such a thing. They had a castle?! What the heck were they doing HERE then? What was their story? Sam looked at her and smirked at her reaction.

“Yeah, we have a castle back home. Our dining room’s ten times bigger than this room.”

“Then wouldn’t it be logical to  **not** yell?” Erik seemed exasperated with his younger brother. 

“Pff. Whatever.” Soon enough James and Damien appeared, their hands full of plates that carried bacon, eggs, toast and waffles. They placed the plates down by each seat before they sat down themselves. 

“Mmmm! My favorite!” The way he said it Mika wondered if he was going to eat it or kiss it. She couldn’t help the small, internal, chuckle at that. 

“Finally...” Sam muttered before digging into his food. 

“Thank you for breakfast! It looks amazing!” 

“It’s our pleasure.” James replied with a smile. She didn’t more than a bite before her phone began to ring and she pulled it from her pocket; who was calling at this hour? 

“Hello?” 

“Hey! Goodmorning!” Naomi’s voice chimed happily and Suzu’s followed.

“Guuuuuuuuess who’s at your door right now!” Oh no. Right on cue, there was a knock from the lobby door. Her heart seemed to stop; Suzu and Naomi where here. Now.  

“I’ll get it!” Matthew chimed from the lobby; apparently he’d been off exploring the house or something while James and Damien had been preparing breakfast. Her heart began pounding in her chest; Matthew was in the lobby and would get to the door first. She instantly jumped out of her chair and rushed out to the lobby to stop him.  _ How am I going to explain this if- _ She was too late, the world seemed to go in slow motion the moment she’d seen him reach for the door. She knew there was no making it in time. 

“Matthew wait!” The words didn’t reach him in time as he’d opened the door to reveal the surprised faces of Naomi and Suzu. 


	13. 12: A Choice to Make

“Uh... ummm...” Apparently he was just as surprised to see them. Neither of the girls said a word as they stared back at him and the world just seemed to have come to a screeching halt as the girls stared at Matthew who was staring back at them in fear and embarrassment. Mika could feel the air go from warm to freezing in a matter of seconds.  

“Uhh... H-hi? ...” The two girls still stared at him; how was she going to explain this?! This week had already been bad enough! Things just seemed to go from bad to worse... To make this matter even worse, Mika found herself frozen in place.  _ Please, for God’s sake, someone do something other than stand there!! _ She screamed in her mind, unable to get herself to move and willing someone else to move so maybe she could get unstuck. After a moment, Suzu seemed to recover.

“Who... are you?” 

“S-suzu, let me explain!” 

“What’s going on here???” Naomi seemed baffled and Mika felt herself blush, why the heck was she embarrassed?! Could this  **possibly** get any more awkward or wor-

“Who’s at the door, Matthew? Oh.” The other incubi had come into the room. Yup, this situation had just gotten worse, the only way to top it of on being worse would be for her parents to show up too! She knew she had to think fast before her friends jumped to conclusions, or worse, her parents popped up next. She said the first thing that made sense that came to her mind.

“They’re visitors!” Well, that wasn’t so far from the truth...

“Then why did one of them open the door?” Naomi just seemed more baffled by that answer. 

“Yeah, that doesn’t make any sense.” 

“Ummm...” Crap, Suzu was right; most visitors didn’t answer the door, but it wasn’t like she could have stopped Matthew and there was no time to think up a good lie to tell them. Just as the feeling of helplessness began to sink in, Mika felt a hand on her shoulder, followed by the feeling of the tension in her fading away to almost nothing. She turned her head to see James had come over and was smiling at her before stepping in front to take charge. It made her wonder how often he had done something like this in the past. 

“We must apologize, ladies. We know this situation must be confusing for everyone. Let’s take this to the dining room and we’ll explain everything.” Mika stared at James, eyes wide. Was he going to tell her friends who he and his brothers really were? Everything suddenly seemed surreal. There was no way her friends were going to believe that the five of them were demons... would this be like the night before all over again?! She worried about that as she was led back to the dining room with Suzu and Naomi, who promptly sat across from her with confused looks. As the two sat down, however, Erik and Matthew placed their untouched plates of food in front of them, surprising the two girls. 

“Whoa! This looks amazing!” Suzu’s eyes widened.

“Thank you!”

“Our pleasure, ladies. We hope you enjoy your meals.”

“Make sure you dig in!” Matthew added. Mika could only look at her friends as they began to eat, visibly enjoying every bite; she hoped that the food would ease their minds for whatever James wanted to reveal. As the two ate, the boys situated themselves behind her; making her blush, although why she was blushing she wasn’t entirely sure why. 

“So, Mika, are you gonna tell us what’s going on?” 

“Well... You see, uh...” Crap! What could she say that wouldn't sound off the wall or that wouldn’t reveal too much? How far could she trust her friends to not spill the truth if they even believed it?  _ Which I doubt... they’d think I was nuts! Just last night I didn’t believe myself... _ James gently put a hand on her shoulder again, signaling for her to just eat; which she did, gladly. She’d no idea what he had in mind to say, but she’d let him handle it.

“We’re Ms Crosstar’s house servants. We were hired by her late grandfather to help around the mansion, but since he has passed, we now assist Ms. Crosstar with living on her own.” 

“That make sense. It’s such a huge house!” Naomi said after swallowing a bite.

“A huge house for a wonderful princess such as Ms. Crosstar deserves the greatest of servants to care for it.” 

“But why are you all dressed so casually and stuff? Aren’t servants supposed to have uniforms or whatever?” Suzu had a point, didn’t they show that in the movies constantly? 

“W-well, Ms. Crosstar allows us to get comfy while we work, so she lets us wear casual clothes.”  _ Nice save Matthew. _

“... Yeah. Something like that.” Sam was as enthusiastic about this whole thing as ever. It surprised, and relieved, Mika that her friends seem to be buying this story. 

“We’re sorry if we made the situation awkward earlier.” It surprised her more that Damien spoke up.

“We’re very sure that Ms Crosstar is also still getting used to having us as her servants. It would be very hard to explain after just a day.” James was so calm about the whole thing and spoke with such certainty that Mika began to realize how easy it was to convince her friends that this was true, even when it wasn’t the whole truth. Yes the boys were helping her out... but they weren’t her servants by any means. 

“I guess.” Naomi seemed only semi certain about that, but understanding seemed to show in her friends’ expressions now.

“So, if I may ask, what brings you two ladies here?” 

“Well, we wanted to see how our friend was doing. Since it’s the weekend and all, usually we hang out and just chill.” 

“Yeah! Like going to the arcade and stuff.” 

“Or the Pink Lady Cafe.” Naomi added.

“There’s an arcade?!” Mika nearly chuckled, apparently the brothers really HAD just gotten into town if Matthew didn’t know there was an arcade.

“Ahem. That makes a lot of sense, ladies. Well, we don’t wish to disturb you any further than we have, so we’ll take our leave and start preparing the house.”

“Huh? Preparing for what?” _ Right... I haven’t told them yet, then again I’d just gotten the news last night... _

“We gotta prep the house for some sort of housewarming party thing.”  _ Real smooth Sam. _

“Our princess’ parents requested a housewarming party to be held here soon.” 

“And by soon, they mean tonight.” Mika added, wanting to sigh.

“Oh, well, I guess we can help out or something, right Naomi?”

“I thought you wanted to go to the arcade?”

“This housewarming thing is more important!” Well, at least she knew her friends had her back, like usual, if she asked. 

“No need. We can handle it; if you’d like to, miss, you can go out with your friends while we handle things here.” While James’ offer was nice... she knew it wasn’t right. 

“...Seriously?” Apparently Sam didn’t agree.

“Sam, not now.” Mika was again surprised that Damien chose to speak up. 

“Well, I... “ How to word this? James’ look of understanding made it tempting to do as she wanted and go out with her friends, but she couldn’t just - in good conscious - leave the boys to do all the work. 

“I’ll stay and help with the work.”

“Are you sure?” Matthew looked puzzled at her choice.

“I’m sure. Besides, it is my housewarming party. I should help out too.”

“Want us to help out as well?” Suzu offered.

“I think we got it all taken care of. Thanks though, girls.” She didn’t want to drag them into this on a day they could  spend relaxing. 

“Alright. We’ll head on out then so we’re not in the way!” With that said, Naomi and Suzu got to their feet.

“Sorry, guys! I’ll hang out with you soon!” 

“It’s all good, Mika! We’ll definitely come to the party tonight!” Suzu shot back before the girls were out the door; she closed it behind them, the two having given her a grin and wave before walking to Naomi’s car in the driveway. Mika was happy that they’d wanted to help, but she had to do this on her own mostly; it wasn’t their work, so she didn’t want to force it on them just because they were her best friends. The six of them had the entire day to work; the party was that night and they had to do all that they could to make everything right. They sat down and talked about what needed doing before the party started. Each of the guys had been assigned a different part of the party to do, making the work much easier; after they had lunch, they began work. With everything taken care of by at least one of the incubus boys, they’d agreed that Mika should assist one of them. The question was: who?  

  
Matthew was cooking in the kitchen, Sam had the front yard to work on, Damien was going to clean the lobby, James was going to work with the garden and Erik was going to clean the dining room. This was likely her only chance to get closer to one of the boys, to learn more about them, but who was the best choice? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of this part. Why? Because from here on out the story has changes (some more obvious than others) depending on whether or not the player chooses to romance one of the boys. I thought about possibly writing individual stories for each of the five boys, but the reason I didn't do that is because the first few chapters of the story (with Naomi, Suzu and the parents) doesn't change as the first choices in the game there are the start of romancing one of the girls (yes that is an option). 
> 
> Since some people (like myself) find it a little boring to read the same thing over and over again, I decided instead to just start each individual romance from the first (obvious) pivotal point for a good ending with the boys. I will admit I did NOT include in this story all the correct steps for romancing each of the boys to perfection. The reason I didn't is because the scene that begins diverging for the different boys is actually the dinner scene (chapter 10). There are THREE options in the game and the boys are split between them. As not one who wants to spoil the game for anyone who would like to find out details by playing the game for themselves... I won't reveal what the actions actually are or who is tied to what. 
> 
> Sorry, but if you want to find out... go play the game. It's free on Steam. Anyone who has either played or seen a play through of this game will know already anyway.


End file.
